


Demigods in S P A C E ! ! !

by BlueGirl22



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Multi, for @kanejghafa of tumblr, like kind crack but taken seriously, mild crack, oh if ur confused by some of those relationship tags it's polyamory, pjo secret santa 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 06:25:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9110476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueGirl22/pseuds/BlueGirl22
Summary: Based on this post by writing-prompt-s on tumblr"You are the first human to step foot on Mars, and after days of exploring the Red Planet your team finds a torn flag in the sand…of the Roman Empire”Some demigods are on Mars because r e a s o n s(pjosecretsanta2016, for @kanejghafa)





	

    Thalia wandered aimlessly through the never ending red-desert surface of Mars. It had been a week or two since they’d all set up the base, and the gang was getting festive inside, as it was Christmas time back on Earth. However, her lovely companions had tried hanging ornaments on her one-too-many times, so she had decided to storm out symbolically and return after a few minutes. She was intent on trying to kick a rock in a straight line, but that was proving difficult, as her suit didn’t allow her to see her toes, and Mars gravity was Fucking Ridiculous. You could call Thalia Beryl Grace many things, but a quitter wasn’t one of them. She kept trying to align her foot with the rock without ever looking down.

After missing the stone a few times, Thalia’s big toe connected with something far heavier and larger than a little rock. Onlookers would have heard a dull clunk sound, followed immediately by the mighty daughter of Zeus hopping up and down on one foot while unsuccessfully trying to clutch at the other in the universal gesture of “Ow! Stubbed toes are the worst!”

She eventually flung down her foot and crouched to see what object had caused her such suffering. She could she the sunlight bouncing off of something, but it was too covered in dust for her to properly make out its shape. She tried pulling it out of the ground. One, two, three… there we go! Thalia looked at the staff-like object enclosed in her fist. A scowl set into her face, and her left eye began to twitch. 

“Fuck.”

* * *

 

   The six demigods in the Mars base rushed about sillily, trying to hide gifts in increasingly  odd places. After Thalia had gone out, Annabeth made a comment about them having lost their pine tree, so they needed to find somewhere else to put the presents. Gift hiding mania had insued. Hazel was currently sitting on Frank’s shoulders trying to balance something wrapped in shiny purple paper on one of the blades of the ceiling fan. Will, being an ever-prepared and diligent young man, was standing below the fan and holding a bed sheet like a net in order to catch the gift whenever it, inevitably, fell.

Reyna and Nico were watching all of this from a carefully calculated position in the corner, ready to rush in if things Escalated. Piper charmspoke Annabeth into lying on the ground with her eyes and ears closed while she tried to hide a stocking in a trunk marked “EXPLOSIVES: DO NOT OPEN UNLESS THINGS NEED TO BE EXPLODED. - CALYPSO  & LEO XXX”. Things had definitely Escalated.  Reyna and Nico rushed in. As she clambered to stand on top of the trunk’s lid, Reyna reflected that NASA maybe should have thought through what would happen if they sent eight, very excitable demigods in their early twenties into space with shiny wrapping paper and a box full of explosives.

Well, she could see how their thought process would have gone after the existence of demigods was revealed to the world. She imagined someone in a grey suit sitting in a boardroom, watching the news with incredulity, and thinking “Wait, so there are hundreds of young superheroes that are already adapted to strenuous situations and living in close proximity to others, and we  _ haven’t sent them into space yet? _ Carl, can we get that horse guy on the phone?  What do you mean ‘that could be an issue’? Well there’s the fountain outside, and someone in this building must have a drachma!”

Reyna heard the soft thud of a box falling into a bedsheet at the same time as Thaila came in through the airlock. As she took off her helmet with her right hand, Reyna noticed the object that was clasped in her left. Was that a-? No, it couldn’t be. That would just be too weird. With the helmet off, Thalia was free to hold up her left hand and shout, “Which one of you Roman asshats thought that  _ this- _ ” she waved her hand to make a point- “was a good idea?”

As Frank gently brought Hazel back to the ground, she queried, “Thalia, where did you get an eagle standard?”

So Reyna hadn’t been hallucinating. It may have been worn and covered in red dust, but that was undeniably a roman  _ Aquila _ .

“Where one of you three,” Thaila pointed to Hazel, Frank, and Reyna, “left it, obviously.”

The three looked at each other quizzically, and Thalia’s expression flickered. “One of you  _ did  _ hide this, right?”

Reyna took a deep breath, and said slowly, “Thalia,  _ mi querida _ , none of us touched that.”

There was a moment of silence. Eyes flickered around the room, from the eagle, to Thalia, and back again. 

    “Uhh, maybe we should take a better look at this,” said Annabeth. She motioned for someone to pass her a pair of latex gloves, and approached cautiously.  Reyna didn’t understand  _ why  _ Annabeth went so slowly, it wasn’t like Thalia was an animal that would bolt at any sudden movement. Maybe Annabeth just felt like the pace fit the mood in the room. She gingerly lifted the  _ Aquila  _ from Thalia’s fingers, and placed it on the observation table in the center of the room.

Thalia drifted slowly over to Reyna and leaned her head into the crook of Reyna’s neck. Usually, as Reyna was a good few inches taller than Thalia, this was easy, but as Thalia was wearing the Mars boots and Reyna was barefoot, this took some effort. You could call  Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano many things, but a quitter was not one of them. She stretched up on her toes to accommodate the issue.

Meanwhile, Annabeth had gotten a magnifying glass out of nowhere and was peering at the eagle. As she walked backward and forward along the table, trying to get a look at every part of the staff, something made her stop and come back. Without looking up, she shouted out, “Uh, hey, somebody Roman, can you take a look at this?”

Reyna stepped forward, Thalia close behind, took the magnifying glass, and focused where Annabeth pointed. Engraved very clearly, at the top of the staff, just below where the image of the eagle itself began, were the numerals “IX”.

Behind her, Thalia gasped. “Oh my gods, is that-”

“Yes,” Reyna cut her off, “ _ Legio Nona Hispana _ . The eagle of the lost Spanish Ninth Legion.”


End file.
